8/28/07 Hughes Spaulding Visit

ED is extremely cramped and a sheet is used to divide one large room- no privacy! It is also L shaped which makes visibility and communication difficult from one side to the other.

Patient bracelets activate alarms and lock doors - Infant Protection System is a great idea.

5 Ideas

More lighting, preferably natural, to make smaller areas appear larger

New paint and updated artwork including elements of nature to appeal to the children

Color coding pathways to make it easier for way finding

Motorized golf cart to transport patients through the tunnel

Stored comfort preferences for repeat patients

3 Conversations

Leslie the HKS Clinical design architect - One of the biggest challenges he is facing is keeping the hospital 100% operational while building the new areas, moving, and destroying the older parts.

Roscoe Simmons the security manager - There is no morgue in Hughes Spaulding. So the deceased patients are transported through the tunnel to the basement of Grady while other patients and staff are going through the tunnel as well. This demonstrates the importance of front of house vs back of house areas, processes in keeping the patients more comfortable and lower stress.

A woman who works as an orderly at Hughes Spaulding - She said that even though the hospital is in really bad shape and the transition will make her job challenging, she loves working there because Children's treats their employees great. A true testament to employee satisfaction and loyalty. This is necessary in periods of major change.